Home sellers cash in on record auctions

Kirsty and Alex Ristevski and their boys Zac, left, and Hugo, in front of their Albert Park, Melbourne, home that sold – with ice cream – on Saturday, for $430,000 above reserve. Photo: Jesse Marlow

Rebecca Thistleton

Auctions in the nation’s two largest markets blew out expectations over the weekend, with bigger volumes doing little to stem buyer enthusiasm at levels unseen since the last property boom.

A record number of more than 3000 residential properties were auctioned across the country, with early figures from RP Data showing a 72.5 per cent clearance rate across the capital cities.

Strong clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne, from record-high listings, show depth of demand and will set the mood for the rest of the year, Australian Property Monitors senior economist Andrew Wilson said.

But neither Sydney nor Melbourne are in boom conditions yet.

Melbourne couple Alex and Kirsty Ristevski sold the Albert Park home they had renovated for $430,000 above reserve on Saturday.

Listed with Marshall White agent Oliver Bruce, the home was marketed with a year’s supply of ice cream from Jock’s, a famed neighbourhood ice creamery.

“We think it’s a home that would hold its own in any market but we did our research and have watched a lot of other auctions,” Mr Ristevski said. “Timing helped, and there was also a bit of luck.”

RP Data figures show Melbourne’s price growth has lagged behind Sydney. Agents and analysts have reported strong competition from confident buyers over low numbers of desirable properties in both cities. The high auction volumes tested how robust both markets are and whether more stock would dilute buyers.

“It’s an extraordinary result, particularly Melbourne, certainly higher than what I was expecting,” Mr Wilson said.

While the other capitals lack the ­auction culture of Sydney and Melbourne, volumes were still larger than usual. Brisbane’s highest seller was a Chelmer property for $2.79 million. It was listed with Ray White agents Russell Gregory and Maria Peirce.

$3.28 million sale in Melbourne

In Adelaide, Toop & Toop agents Kay Morris and Charles Clemente sold a St Georges home for $1.1 million.

RP Data reported a 72.3 per cent clearance rate in Melbourne, where there were 1614 auctions scheduled across the weekend – the most ever.

Buyers’ agent Mal James said there were more than 250 auction of $1 million plus on Saturday, and all signs point to prices rising in the city’s multimillion-dollar market.

“Even with such huge amounts of good stock, it really felt solid out there; it was solid in terms of everything,” he said.

Melbourne’s highest auction result was a property on Hall Street, Brighton, owned by developer Nick Beck, the son of Becton founder Max Beck. A bidding war led to a $3.28 million sale – $520,000 above reserve. Agent Nick Johnstone said the home had a “perfect” floor plan. “It is still not easy to sell a home that has anything wrong with it . . . people are wanting to buy the right property for their needs,” he said.

“Vendors are hearing stories of homes selling way above expectations and then think their home is more, that does make our job more difficult.”

In the middle of the market, Hocking Stuart St Kilda agent John Carter said his agency sold nine of nine properties on Saturday, all above reserve, and each auction had four or more bidders. “That hasn’t happened in the past 18 months. I haven’t seen the market spike like this in my 20 years in the job,” he said. Mr James said another “super ­Saturday” could be expected at the end of November, after vendors had a four-week marketing campaign uninterrupted by school or public holidays or major sporting events.

“Buyers seem to be very aware that the clock is ticking, and there is definitely a sense of anxiety in the air with people wanting to find something before Christmas,” Mr James said. “We’ve never seen so many people at mid-week open for inspections.”